Verstappen reveals Red Bull's Singapore qualifying hopes

Max Verstappen does not expect Red Bull to be in the fight for pole position at the Singapore Grand Prix, despite their high-downforce car generally favouring the Marina Bay Circuit. Red Bull topped the timesheets in Friday's first practice session, but were half a second off the pace in FP2.

It is telling that both Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were left so far off the pace in FP2, when Kimi Raikkonen went quickest as teams underwent qualifying simulation runs.

Previewing the race, Verstappen suggested that Red Bull's engine deficit in 2018 was greater than 2017, when the Dutchman and his team-mate qualified second and third respectively.

However, with Lewis Hamilton just 0.011 seconds down on Raikkonen's leading time, Verstappen does not expect to be in contention for Saturday honours this time around.

"It wasn't the perfect day for me, we still have plenty of room to improve ahead of qualifying tomorrow," the Dutchman said.

"This morning's practice felt good but I wasn't entirely satisfied with the second session. This afternoon we could have been a bit quicker over the short runs as we suffered a bit from understeer.

"I don't think we have the pace to fight for pole so we will just try to optimise the package.

"Once we have, short runs and race pace should improve.

"It definitely wasn't a bad day, some hard work tonight should put us in a good position with ability to attack.

"The hypersoft struggled over the long runs, it dropped off quickly. The other compounds were not so bad which could make the race interesting."

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